Okotoks Sr. Raider Casey MacIntyre battles with a Rockyview Knight during the Raiders' 5-4 loss on June 8 at Pason Centennial Arena.

Remy Greer/OWW

High reward, higher risk.

The Okotoks Sr. B Raiders capped a week to forget with a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Rockyview Knights who beat the final buzzer on a botched six-on-five play from the hosts, Sunday night at Pason Centennial Arena.

“To lose like we did, I made not the smartest pass, not the right decision and it cost us today,” said Raider Casey MacIntyre. “It’s tough when the team played well.”

The Raiders called a timeout in the final 15 seconds and opted to pull the goalie for the extra attacker and go for the win on the final possession. The Knights had other plans as they intercepted a pass and fired a bouncing shot down the floor and into the yawning cage just moments before the clock struck zero.

“You have to go for the win,” said Raiders goalie Ryan Avery. “If you go down and rag the ball, you’re going into overtime, you’re not playing to win.

“I’d rather lose like that than drag the ball for 14 seconds, go into overtime and they score one and lose.”

The Knights took early command with two-first period tallies before Okotoks tied it up before the intermission with back-to-back markers from MacIntyre, including a last ditch shot with 2.9 seconds on the clock to render the score deuces wild. Erik Hansen added a shorthanded marker in the second period to cut the lead to 4-3.

Overtime beckoned in the final moments of the third period. Road runner Steve Morris broke free on a shorthanded breakaway and made his chance count, evening the score up at 4-4 with just over two minutes on the clock before the late stage hysteria.

“We were a little scrambly at the beginning, took too many penalty minutes, but our penalty kill played well and our D played well,” Avery said. “Our offence got chances we were just snake-bitten, couldn’t poke one in.”

The one-goal defeat extended Okotoks’ losing streak to three games and dropped its record to 4-4. Okotoks suffered an 11-7 loss to the Calgary Mountaineers on June 4 and were 9-4 losers to the undefeated St. Albert Miners on June 7.

“We were scoring goals pretty regularly at the start of the season, the last couple games it’s been a little tougher,” MacIntyre said. “Our defence has started to play better and we’ve stopped scoring.

“Hopefully we can turn that around. We’re still putting in the effort, playing teams hard. It’s going to come around soon.”

The Raiders won’t have to wait long for revenge as the Southern foes square off again on Saturday in Airdrie. The Raiders are back in Okotoks on Sunday for a date with the Edmonton Outlaws (3 p.m., Pason Centennial Arena) and meet the Knights again on June 18.

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